This time, Rush had a bandage for his teeth marks. There was a first aid kit in the room's bathroom, and he wiped her neck gently before he stuck the gauze bandage over the holes. The ones on her breasts, well, bandages didn't work well there, and she giggled when Rush looked at them and wondered what he was supposed to do.

"They are fine. Leave them," Mer insisted, but she was a little perturbed by how quickly Rush had returned to calm. Laying on his back next to her, he pulled her against his chest and ran his hand lightly over her hair. There was a strange expression on his face, and she crawled up a bit to cross her arms under her chin and rest them on his chest.

"What's wrong?" Mer asked, and his eyes met hers carefully.

"I frightened you a few times," Rush said, and she chuckled on his chest.

"Did I frighten you?" Mer asked, and Rush twitched uncomfortably.

"Yes, Meredith, terribly, when you put your hands on my face." Rush's look was strangely direct.

"Sorry," Mer attempted, but he smirked.

Leaning forward, he licked her cheek. The action made her grimace, and she leaned away from him, sticking her own tongue out in disgust. That caused a satisfied laugh from him. It was such a pleasant sound.

"You needn't apologize, Meredith." There was still a seeking look in his eyes even with his smile, like he had something to say but was not doing so.

"What?" She tugged on his hair lightly, and he brushed her hand away.

"Do you regret it terribly?" Rush finally asked, and she let out a breath, pushing his chest away.

"No, Rush, I don't." Turning from him, she crossed her arms in annoyance. Leave it to him to remind her of her feelings.

"Lamenting that I do not love you?" Rush asked, leaning over her stubborn, grumpy form, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"A bit," she admitted for once, and his flat expression changed to a light smile and he ran his hand gently over her hair again.

"Don't. I'm starting to like you quite a bit." There was a taunting expression in his smile, but it seemed abnormally genuine and she rolled over to him.

"Quite a bit, you say?" Mer coaxed him for clarification, leaning back on his chest, and he chuckled lightly.

"Can't not like the girl who saves your family's lives, mage or not," Rush elaborated down to her, touching her hair affectionately. "Love, is a very deep word for a vampire. We live long lives, as do mages. When we commit ourselves to fall for someone, we don't intend to repeat it, over and over, as time progresses. So love, for someone like me, is a bit harder to latch onto, if you can understand."

"No, I get it." Mer had not considered it from Rush's standpoint. It would be unbearably painful to fall completely for someone only to have them die, and then mourn them, only to repeat the process.

"If you continue as you are though, I may fall into that trap."

Mer narrowed her eyes at him. Falling in love with her was a trap?

"I have a thing for finicky, picky, women who are a bit too powerful," Rush repeated his words from earlier, and she rolled her eyes to look away from him. "Plus" –winding his hand around her chin, he pulled her gaze back and she blushed as he smirked– "It's hard to resist a woman who can hold me against my will and force me to pleasure her. That doesn't seem like a bad arrangement at all." By the time he let her go, his tongue tracing his lips, she was full on crimson, and she hid herself in the blanket. Rush's laughter as she did so warmed her in a place it hadn't before.

While he didn't love her yet, he liked her and relished other parts about her. Really, who fell in love with someone after just meeting them anyway? If anything, Rush was a rational person who was willing to love, but also careful not to fall in with anyone untrustworthy, or insincere. That caution didn't apply to sex though, it would seem, but she wasn't complaining.

"On a side note, my father would kill me himself if he knew what we just did." Rush was getting comfy in the bed with the shades drawn, and she sat up and shook him. Annoyed, he growled at her, but she sighed.

"No sleeping. You are supposed to be staying up in the day." Mer paused. "And why is your dad killing things again? Do vampires not sleep with mages offered as sacrifices?"

"No, I'm sure they do, but shackled." Rush looked to her nervously, and she remembered again that Rush didn't detain her as normally as his kind was supposed to. "What we did was more like threaten each other for a period of time, treading between pleasure, pain, and danger. My father would have had a heart attack if he'd seen you press your hands to my skull and demand I do anything, even if it was just to take off my clothes and penetrate you." There was a tease in his words, and she didn't fail to notice him use the word penetrate, but she understood.

Mage bad, shackles good.

"I didn't mean to–"

"Stop, Meredith. As I've said, you've nothing to apologize for. I'm quite tamed by you, I'm afraid. You've healed me and protected my life with your own, so I don't quite fear you actually killing me, though it may still cause me some trepidation." Rush stared at her and then rolled in the covers, closing his eyes defiantly.

"Rush! Come on, you slept all night. Wake your ass up." Mer shook his shoulder, but he just ignored her, burrowing more into the covers. What was he, a child?

"The only reason I can see being awake for is if you want to feel pleasure again. I would be more than obliging."

Mer shoved his blankets, and got up from the bed. "Are you going to replace my undergarments?" Mer questioned, looking at the tatters, and Rush chuckled. Lifting his hand, he cast a small spell, and a neat pile of folded clothes appeared.

"My father purchased plenty when I gave him your size."

That creeped her right the hell out. Him buying her a shirt and pants had been okay, but picking out bras and underwear for her made her heave. The things weren't cotton or at all conservative either.

"For a guy who doesn't want you to sleep with me, he sure as hell has a strange taste in lingerie." Picking up a set of clothing, she headed to the bathroom, eyeing him still.

"Oh, my father had already assumed I was sleeping with you, just with shackles." That was creepier them him buying underwear for her. How sick did one have to be to chain someone and use them for pleasure? Mer had feared that before, but as far as she could tell, Rush had never intended that for her. This was much more pleasant than fighting him to the death.

"Rush, I'm taking a shower and you should too."

Rush peeked up to her with a smirk, and she glared.

"Separately. I want to go somewhere with you, so you can nap while I'm in the shower only. No dead sleeping or I'll practice some spells on you while you're unconscious."

The look he gave her was pointed and he growled low in the back of his throat, but that just made her giggle as she went into the bathroom. It was strange, but it was sort of cute, even though he was hostile.

As she let the warm water run down her skin, she groaned in a different sort of pleasure. After having a knife jabbed into her chest and sitting dead on a counter for eight hours, she needed a shower. The soap on her skin was euphoric, but when she scrubbed between her legs, she was lightly sore. It was a good sort of soreness though. The small holes on her breasts weren't bleeding, and she didn't really feel them much at all. Contented, she let out a sigh of relaxation.

After conceding to her feelings for Rush, he'd been just as gentle with her as he had each time he'd kissed and caressed her. The only times he'd been rough with her was when she'd asked for it, or provoked it, and that was sort of normal. It was just like two people sleeping with each other. When she'd initially imagined Rush sleeping with her, he'd been a vampire, a beast, and she'd been terrified, but Rush was just any other man–one with a head harder than concrete, but he was slowly opening up to her.

Falling away from Rush, she wondered about Shiva. It was a blade, right? But it was also sentient. It had felt her feelings, no matter how buried, and pulled them to the surface. Last time she checked, her aunt's lunar staff didn't talk to her. Would Shiva talk to her? It responded when she spoke to it, but it didn't exactly speak back. It sure had a damn mind of its own though.

How did she summon it? Since she'd feel a little foolish doing it in front of Rush, she closed her eyes with the hot water trailing down her form.

Come to me Shiva. Attempting to call it, she touched it lightly. When she did, there was a hilt under her fingers, and she pulled it out slowly. It was a strange burning sensation, painful and yet pleasant, but then she was left in the shower with a dull dagger, and she sighed.

Why didn't she think these things through? How did she return it? Jabbing herself in the chest was not on her list of things to try, so she stared at it annoyed. Hopefully, it was waterproof. Otherwise she was about to have a very rusted weapon.

Maybe it would go back if she called to it again. Before she did so, she imagined how that would be, how it would stab back into her chest... then it did. Startling her, it was indescribable pain and pleasure as it sank back into her, and she backed up and fell. Expecting to hit the tub side, she was surprised when she found herself in a pair of arms. Rush was there, holding her, and he had an aggravated look on his face.

"I thought you said shower, not play with yourself."

"That almost sounded like a euphemism." Mer laughed, despite behind soaked and watching the shower hit him with water.

"It was definitely literal," Rush disagreed, hoisting her up, and she squeaked as he carried her out of the shower.

"Hey..." Complaining, when she went to protest, she was woozy and fell against his arms. Left on the bed, she was wrapped in towels, and she whined as he touched her wet hair gently. At least she had finished shampooing and rinsing it already.

"Don't play around with Shiva like that. You're unused to it, and it will exhaust you. I'm going to shower now, so pull yourself together so we can go wherever it is you want me to take you."

While she had intended to say something, instead she had passed out.

It was dark when she opened her eyes, and Rush was sitting up in the bed, fully dressed and watching her. Dammit, how long had she been asleep? Stupid, Shiva... Annoyed with it, her chest heated up, and she gasped for breath.

"Calm down," Rush said, pulling her onto his lap, and as she did so, the heat receded. "Leave Shiva alone unless you need him."

Unless she needed him?

"It's a powerful weapon, but it's also very headstrong. Playing with him when he's not needed is like yanking the leash on a dog; you're like to aggravate him."

"Mage weapons don't act like this," Mer said, thinking about Shiva, but only lightly so it didn't snap at her.

"No. They have the will of magic, that is all. Shiva is a living weapon, so it is very much alive. As such, if he feels you don't respect him, he is like to lash out at you. In the same way, if you trust him, rely on him, and revere him, he will relish imbuing you with his power."

"I was just trying to figure out how to call it." Mer was irritated, but curling up in Rush's lap was so comfortable that she let out a sigh.

"That's not something you need practice at. If you call Shiva, he will come."

"And if I curse him, he will curse back it seems." Mer touched the spot on her chest that no longer burned. When she had blamed the blade for her pain, it had lashed out at her. Really, it had been her fault, so that was sort of rude. A warm feeling flowed through her body, and she relaxed with a small chuckle. "It seems it likes apologies too."

Despite her amusement, Rush was looking to her nervously. "Meredith, Shiva is volatile, so please treat him with care."

"I will." Mer smiled at him, though he seemed pretty concerned about her and Shiva. She had been rude to it, to him, and she would not do so again. If she thought of Shiva like a person and not a dagger, she could understand its feelings, his feelings. Since he was going to be her protector, she'd worship the hell out of him because she liked feeling safe.

There was a tickling in her side, and she looked to Rush but he was not touching her. It was as if fingers were trailing up and down her, and she leaned off of Rush, giggling and struggling to get it to cease.

"Stop, oh my god, stop!" It abated for more of the warm feeling within her. "Rush, this is really weird, but I think Shiva likes me."

"Better than him hating you," Rush said, sounding very off put. If Shiva ever did hate her, there would be nothing she could do to stop it, so she was glad they got along.

~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 2400